Hi. This is awful to be considering but I'm beginning to wonder if my dogs happiness and quality of life is good enough any more. It will probably be quite long so bear with me.
He is 13.5 yr old large breed and has recently progressed quite badly with his dementia. It's especially bad at night where he is destructive and anxious pacing and howling all night. We are currently having to take it in turns sleeping downstairs with him where he is still restless but definitely better.
But his anxiety is constantly through the roof. Especially separation anxiety. I can't leave him alone or even get up from the sofa without him getting up. You can see the fear in his eyes that he may be left. And if he is left at all he freaks out and chews door handles and has toilet accidents in his desperation to get out.
He also has degenerative myelopathy and lumbar sacral stenosis though his pain is controlled with steroid shots and oral steroids and paracetamol. But his back and leg issues make his inability to relax fully and get proper rest a really problem.
Unfortunately he seems to have a paradoxical reaction to all medicines so the usual anti anxiety medicines like Xanax, trazadone and gabapentin seem to increase his anxiety. It's really frustrating me and the vet. He is also on an antidepressant that is meant to help with the anxiety and the cognitive dysfunction but so far no difference. Otherwise his health is good and he can see and hear fine.
On the plus side he is very happy out walking with me or if I'm sitting with him but obviously that is not possible all the time and it's making him and me miserable.
Has anyone been in this situation with an elderly dog? Has anything helped? It breaks my heart but we are getting to the stage where he is so anxious all the time we are wondering if he actually has a good quality of life anymore